Road to nation building

Newto

As we move ahead with a new government and expectations, we must not forget that today’s political structures have been birthed from a number of experiments. Experiments that have cost lives, that have cost mismanagement of our resources, that have also resulted in the collapse of partnerships. These same experiments have imposed some political ideologies that are making it difficult to tell the difference between a military dictatorship and a democratic structure. My problem, therefore, is, how long can we go on experimenting without a solution and a constitutional direction? Because we the people want to know the path to development and nation building, which must start now, before we take the wrong path to nation building again and again. Today’s title is not meant to question the past, but, rather, to help us identify the issues and challenges towards a new beginning, to also open our minds on how to address the backwardness of the nation. Before we dive into the topic of the day properly, I just want us to know what nation building is all about. Nation building can be described as the process through which the boundaries of the modern state and those of the national community become congruent. The desired outcome is to achieve national integration. Nation building is a complex and challenging process that requires the collective efforts of the people and the state to create a stable, prosperous, and cohesive nation.

When we look at great nations and empires around the world, we will see that they evolve in building the nation and through this nation building individuals are now developed and great in the nation. Unlike what is happening in Nigeria today, reverse is the case, we have not been able to follow the road to nation building, we are busy building individuals to the point individuals are progressing faster than the nation.

Nation building is a very difficult task to accomplish, especially in a country like ours with deep religious, ethnic, cultural, traditional and political divisions among the people. Some people say that nation building in Nigeria is impossible because the country is not functioning effectively as a result of our present-day leaders allowing their personal interests to overwhelm them and paying their loyalty to certain individuals, to the detriment of the nation’s advancement.

The patriotic zeal of our past leaders in the 1960s gained us our independence. The desire to serve is not there anymore; people give their love and loyalty to those that have been built, instead of giving their love and loyalty to the nation. The politicians who are to instil patriotic values in the people are the ones using the people for their own selfish gain. Therefore, politicians give rise to the unending conflicts in the country in the name of common ethnicity, language, religions, traditions and cultural identity. The people are now sentimental with their choice of political leaders, which takes us back to one of my previous columns, “Muslim-Muslim Ticket” (September 15, 2022).

• Will it matter if we seek a Southern-Southern ticket that can lead this country out of the shameful and leaderless situations we find ourselves in the last few decades?

• Will it matter if we seek a Northern-Northern ticket that will deliver security, education and good health?

• Will it matter if we seek a Christian-Christian ticket that can rid this country of corruption and mismanagement of our natural and human resources that has crippled the nation’s economy and reduced the value of the naira to invaluable value?

• Will it matter if my sons and daughters can travel the length and breadth of this country the way I did in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s?

If we take time to reflect on the leadership journey in Nigeria from Independence to date, it forces us to ask if our leaders were prepared for the challenges and obstacles they faced.

What we see and hear happenings today, it is hopelessness and backwardness of political structure and development, and not based on whether it is Northern-Northern, Southern-Southern, Christian-Christian or Muslim-Muslim ticket.

We can all agree that since the time of Chief Mashood Kashimawo Abiola, GCFR, aka M.K.O, the presidential election (June 12, 1993) that was annulled, till this present day, our nation has not witnessed free and fair elections. Therefore, there is a need for us to look back to what we have tried in the past that didn’t work. In doing that we can avoid repeating the same mistakes again.

Things to be done

• The nation must reset and walk back a little towards developing a nation building mechanism that will restore hope and patriotism.

• There is also a need to restore the rule of law and a level playing field.

Where every person must be entitled to equal protection under the law, the law should apply equally to all citizens.

• There is a need for us to understand our nation’s history, accomplishments, positive contributions to our culture, values and humanity, as well as its failure and negative influence.

• In reviewing the past, we might find some injuries that we have caused ourselves. In finding those injuries we must not play the blame game.

It is only when we do this that the healing process can begin. It’s only the healing that can offer us some settlement, and that settlement requires that we are true to ourselves by finding answers to very difficult questions. Those questions will take us back to the nation building that we started after Independence.

Important questions

1. Was the military intervention of the 1960s and 1970s a mistake?

2. Was the civil war that followed a mistake?

3. Was dismantling the constitution that we inherited from the British a mistake?

4. Was the partnership that was developed between the military and the political class a mistake?

5. Was the annulment of the presidential election (June 12, 1993) also a mistake?

These are very deep and difficult questions and we must not shy away from them, because the country is very big and every Nigerian is big. This will awake the spirit of patriotism in us which is, “I am a Nigerian, I represent Nigeria. Everything I do is for the love of my country. I pledge my loyalty to Nigeria my country, I will fight and defend my country. I am proud to be a Nigerian.”

We should begin to instill patriotic values in our children. This is very important because the values we place on our children determine the future of the nation. We must begin to respect each other’s cultural, traditional and religious beliefs and also begin to foster a new partnership away from the past, to avoid making the same mistakes. We must drop our conflicts of cultures, traditions, ethnics, language and religions at the door of the pathway and join hands together to protect, defend and build our beloved country, Nigeria.

“Together we stand, divided we fall”. Let’s do away with sentiments and be true to ourselves and demand for a free and fair Election, it is our right to choose our political leaders.

Our diversity can become the strength we require in nation building, if we let go of our selfish desires and have a desire to serve and focus on the growth of the nation.